Oklahoma welcomes Mississippi State to Norman this weekend for the inaugural SEC home series at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The Sooners (18-2, 2-1) sit at No. 10 this week in the D1 Baseball Rankings, No. 8 by Baseball America and No. 9 according to the USA Today Coaches Poll. The NCAA RPI has OU sixth nationally, third-best among SEC teams.
Oklahoma has a chance to add to its season success when it hosts Mississippi State (14-7, 0-3) in a three game series beginning Friday. The Sooners have won seven of their last eight games after starting the season 11-0, the team's best start since the 2011 season.
The Sooners won two of three games at South Carolina last weekend. Meanwhile, Mississippi State was swept at home by Texas by a combined six runs.
This will be Mississippi State's first baseball trip to Norman, although the Sooners and Bulldogs have played each other eight times previously. Oklahoma owns a slight 4-3-1 advantage. The two programs met most recently in 2023 in the Frisco College Classic, with the Sooners prevailing 15-9 in a slugfest.
The series opener on Friday will start at 6:30 p.m. CT. The start time on Saturday is 4 p.m., and on Sunday it is 2 p.m. The weekend series will be on SEC Network+ with Chad McKee and former Sooner Rich Hill on the call.
What fans need to know
Oklahoma
- Oklahoma is 13-0 at home this season at L. Dale Mitchell Park and has outscored opponents 116-45 at home.
- The weekend pitching rotation for the Sooners will be right-hander Kyson Witherspoon (5-0, 1.91 ERA) on Friday, southpaw JUCO transfer Cade Crossland (1-1, 4.70) on Saturday and Kyson's brother, Malachi Witherspoon (2-1, 5.73), in the series finale on Sunday. The Friday starter, Kyson, has a 47-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his five starts.
- Freshman second-baseman Kyle Branch leads the team with a .366 batting average. Shortstop Jaxon Willits has a team-high six home runs, including three in the last seven games, and All-American catcher Easton Carmichael paces the Sooners with 12 extra-base hits and 22 runs batted in.
- OU is 7-0 in one-run games this season and nine come-from-behind wins, six of which came with the Sooners trailing by two-plus runs.
Mississippi State
- Designated-hitter Noah Sullivan leads the Bulldogs in hitting with a .409 average, along with 21 runs batted in. Third baseman Ace Reese has seven doubles, six home runs and a team-high 27 RBI, and senior outfielder Aaron Downs leads the team with seven home runs.
- Senior first baseman Hunter Hines has 57 career home runs, second-most among active Division-I players. He has three in 21 games this season.
- The Mississippi State pitching staff ranks No. 2 nationally, averaging 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings with an impressive 1.05 WHIP (walks plus hits over innings pitched).
- The Bulldogs are 13-1 this season when leading after six innings and 10-0 when they score five-plus runs.